State v. Lordi

• Decision Date: 07 October 2002
• Docket Number: No. 01 CA 164.,01 CA 164.
• Parties: The STATE of Ohio, Appellee, v. LORDI, Appellant.<SMALL><SUP>*</SUP></SMALL>
• Court: Ohio Court of Appeals

778 N.E.2d 605

149 Ohio App.3d 627

2002 Ohio 5517

The STATE of Ohio, Appellee, v. LORDI, Appellant.^*

No. 01 CA 164.

Court of Appeals of Ohio, Seventh District, Mahoning County.

Decided October 7, 2002.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Paul J. Gains, Mahoning County Prosecuting Attorney, and Jan T. O'Halloran, Assistant Prosecuting Attorney; and Paul M. Nick, Special Assistant Prosecutor, Ohio Ethics Commission, for appellee.

Kravitz & Kravitz, Max Kravitz and Kort Gatterdam, Columbus; Wolman, Genshaft & Gellman and Susan Gellman, Columbus, for appellant.

DeGENARO, Judge.

{¶ 1} This matter comes for consideration upon the record in the trial court and the parties' briefs. Appellant Frank Lordi appeals from the judgment of the Mahoning County Court of Common Pleas dismissing his untimely petition for post-conviction relief, his motion seeking to declare the post-conviction relief statute unconstitutional, and his second motion for a new trial. The issues we must resolve are (1) whether Lordi was unavoidably prevented from discovering the information upon which he bases his untimely petition for post-conviction relief, and (2) whether R.C. 2953.23 impermissibly trumps either United States and Ohio Supreme Court case law or the United States Constitution. Because we answer these questions in the negative, the judgment of the trial court is affirmed.

{¶ 2} In 1994, Lordi was a member of Democrats for Change, a grassroots effort to change the leadership of the Democratic Party in Mahoning County by electing its own party precinct members. Lordi's role in Democrats for Change was to identify people in the community who would run for precinct person, then telephone and interview those people.

{¶ 3} Joseph Veneroso and Fred De-Bonis were two individuals who assisted the Democrats for Change. Both worked for the Mahoning County Building Inspector. Lordi directed both Veneroso and DeBonis to pick up petitions for the Democrats for Change on county time and to do whatever the people on the committee asked them to do. Lordi told them that if anyone questioned them, they should tell them to call Lordi and he would take care of the problem. DeBonis stated that generally when he mentioned to his boss, Steve Berry, that he and Veneroso needed to pick up petitions, his boss told the dispatcher not to give them any calls that day.

{¶ 4} At the height of the election, Veneroso testified that he was at the Democrats for Change office nearly every day. John Gillespie, a Democrats for Change volunteer, testified that he saw both Veneroso and DeBonis during normal business hours at the Democrats for Change office. According to Gillespie, on one occasion, he called Lordi and asked him to find someone to pick up petitions. Veneroso ultimately showed up at Democrats for Change with the required petitions. On the last day petitions for Democrats for Change were to be in, DeBonis testified that he and Veneroso used a county-owned vehicle to travel to an outlying western area of the county to pick up petitions at Lordi's request.

{¶ 5} On April 1, 1998, Lordi was indicted on eighteen counts. Pertinent to this post-conviction appeal, the jury found Lordi guilty on one count of theft in office, one count of unlawful interest in a public contract, and two counts of conflict of interest. Lordi was convicted and sentenced to eighteen months' imprisonment and ordered to pay fines on all four charges.

{¶ 6} Lordi filed a timely appeal, and this court affirmed his convictions. State v. Lordi (2000), 140 Ohio App.3d 561, 748 N.E.2d 566. His timely application to reopen his direct appeal was also denied. State v. Lordi (Feb. 23, 2001), 7th Dist. Nos. 99 CA 62 and 99 CA 247. On June 14, 2001, Lordi filed a petition for post-conviction relief related to his conviction for theft in office, followed by an amended petition. Lordi also filed to hold R.C. 2953.23(A)(2) unconstitutional and a motion for new trial pursuant to Crim.R. 33(A)(2) and (6) and (B).

{¶ 7} Lordi based these motions upon the assertion that the special prosecutor in his case withheld exculpatory evidence that may have led to his acquittal on the theft-in-office charge. Specifically, Lordi claims that on March 23, 2001, Berry testified in a deposition in an unrelated federal proceeding that Special Prosecutor David Betras interviewed him prior to the trial in the present case. During that interview, Berry allegedly told Betras that he was unaware of Veneroso and DeBonis doing private political work for Lordi while on county time and that Lordi never requested that he allow them to do such work on county time. Berry, however, did not testify at Lordi's trial.

{¶ 8} In contrast, Veneroso and DeBonis testified at trial that Berry was aware that they were doing work for Lordi while being paid as public employees. DeBonis further testified that Berry participated in the wrongdoing by instructing other public employees not to give Veneroso and DeBonis public assignments on the day they were to pick up petitions for the private political work. DeBonis also testified that Lordi called Berry to tell him to make sure that DeBonis and Veneroso did not get any public employment work on that day. Because of these inconsistencies, Lordi claims that Betras should have handed over these alleged statements because they were exculpatory in nature.

{¶ 9} The trial court denied all of Lordi's pleadings but failed to issue findings of fact and conclusions of law. Upon Lordi's motion, the trial court filed same. Lordi timely appealed from the August 8, 2001 judgment entry but later moved to amend the notice of appeal to include the findings of fact and conclusions of law. This court denied that request, explaining that findings of fact and conclusions of law are required only when a court denies a timely initial post-conviction petition. In response, Lordi filed a second notice of appeal from the trial court's issuance of findings of fact and conclusions of law. This court consolidated the two appeals.

{¶ 10} As his first assignment of error, Lordi asserts:

{¶ 11} "The trial court erred in dismissing Lordi's post-conviction and new trial claims contrary to the Due Process Clause of the Ohio and United States Constitution."

{¶ 12} Although the burden of proof required of a defendant requesting a new trial is much akin to the burden placed on a defendant seeking to file an untimely petition for post-conviction relief, Lordi's claims will be addressed separately. Turning to Lordi's post-conviction petition, the trial court initially dismissed it without explanation, apparently because it was untimely filed. Lordi's trial transcript was filed in his direct appeal on May 25, 1999. Lordi did not petition for post-conviction relief until June 14, 2001. Clearly, Lordi filed his petition for post-conviction relief more than one hundred eighty days after his trial transcript was filed in the court of appeals and did not meet the deadline provided by R.C. 2953.21(A)(2).

{¶ 13} Thus, we must determine whether Lordi has demonstrated that his petition for post-conviction relief should have been entertained under R.C. 2953.23. See State v. Hill (1998), 129 Ohio App.3d 658, 661, 718 N.E.2d 978. R.C. 2953.23 makes a limited exception for review of a petition for post-conviction relief that is not timely filed and states:

{¶ 14} "(A) Whether a hearing is or is not held on a petition filed pursuant to section 2953.21 of the Revised Code, a court may not entertain a petition filed after the expiration of the period prescribed in division (A) of that section or a second petition or successive petitions for similar relief on behalf of a petitioner unless both of the following apply:

{¶ 15} "(1) Either of the following applies:

{¶ 16} "(a) The petitioner shows that the petitioner was unavoidably prevented from discovery of the facts upon which the petitioner must rely to present the claim for relief.

{¶ 17} "(b) Subsequent to the period prescribed in division (A)(2) of section 2953.21 of the Revised Code or to the filing of an earlier petition, the United States Supreme Court recognized a new federal or state right that applies retroactively to persons in the petitioner's situation, and the petition asserts a claim based on that right.

{¶ 18} "(2) The petitioner shows by clear and convincing evidence that, but for constitutional error at trial, no reasonable factfinder would have found the petitioner guilty of the offense of which the petitioner was convicted or, if the claim challenges a sentence of death that, but for constitutional error at the sentencing hearing, no reasonable factfinder would have found the petitioner eligible for the death sentence." Id.

{¶ 19} Lordi claims that he was unavoidably prevented from discovering the alleged misconduct of Betras because Berry did not give his deposition until March 23, 2001. Lordi further asserts that there is no indication that he either possessed this information or he would have been able to obtain this information. However, the record indicates that Lordi was put on notice that Berry would have testified in that manner by the testimony adduced at trial. Significantly, it also appears from Berry's deposition testimony that Lordi became aware sometime before the deposition was actually taken, but sometime after his trial, what responses Berry would give in his deposition.

{¶ 20} More specifically, Veneroso testified at trial that there was a great deal of conflict in his and Berry's relationship. He further testified that Berry had "set him up" and was well aware that bad things were going on in the office. Similarly, DeBonis explained at trial that Berry had sued Veneroso. He also agreed with Veneroso's statement that the two had a "terrible relationship." Finally, it was alluded to at trial that Berry at one point stated that he thought the two men were off the clock when they were performing other tasks.

{¶ 21} This evidence alone suggests that any...